NSA is after industrial spying – Snowden to German TV

The NSA agency is not preoccupied solely with national security, but also spies on foreign industrial entities in US business interests, former American intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, has revealed in an interview to German TV.

Edward Snowden chose the German ARD broadcaster to make his first
TV interview ever since he became a whistleblower. The interview
was made in strict secrecy in an unspecified location in Russia,
where Snowden is currently living under temporary asylum.

“There is no question that the US is engaged in economic
spying,” said Snowden.

If an industrial giant like Siemens has something that the NSA
believes “would be beneficial to the national interests, not
the national security, of the United States, they will go after
that information and they'll take it,” the whistleblower
said, giving an example.

Edward Snowden disavowed participation in any future publications
of the documents he withdrew from the NSA databanks, saying in
the same interview that he no longer possesses any NSA data. The
information has been distributed among a number of trustworthy
journalists, who are going to decide for themselves what to make
public and in what sequence.

The full 30-minute version was aired at 11pm local time (22:00
UTC) on Sunday.

The former NSA contractor’s revelations about US global spying
activities, including snooping on its closest allies, put
transatlantic ties “to the test,” said German Chancellor
Angela Merkel last November and demanded
that Washington give Germany clarity over the future of the NSA
in the country.

Snowden’s revelation hit Berlin particularly hard because Germany
is a non-Anglophone country, and therefore is not a member of the
‘Five eyes’ intelligence alliance that incorporates
NSA-equivalent agencies in Britain, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand, Deutsche Welle points out. While members of the ‘Five
eyes’ were exchanging intelligence on a regular basis, Berlin had
to consider itself satisfied with less data, while both Washington
and London,
for example, were blatantly listening to German Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s cell phone right in the middle of Germany’s capital.

The Germans - according to polls – have lost
confidence in the US as a trustworthy partner, and the
majority of them consider NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a
hero.

In order to mend fences, US President Barack Obama made a rare
appearance on German TV. On January 18 President Obama told the
ZDF TV channel that “As long as I'm president of the United
States, the chancellor of Germany will not have to worry about
this.”

Former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, remains in Russia, where
his temporary political asylum status could be extended
every year. He has no plans for returning to the US where he
would face trial for alleged treason.

“Returning to the US, I think, is the best resolution for the
government, the public, and myself, but it’s unfortunately not
possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws,
which through a failure in law did not cover national security
contractors like myself,” said Snowden during his public
Q&A
session last Thursday.

‘There are significant threats but I sleep very well’

Snowden said in the interview that there is “significant threat”
to his life but he “sleeps well,” as he believes he had done the
right thing.

"These people, and they are government officials, have said
they would love to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I
come out of the supermarket, and then watch as I die in the
shower," he said in reference to a report published by US
website BuzzFeed which cited explicit threats against Snowden
made by unnamed Pentagon and NSA officials.

"There are significant threats but I sleep very well,"
he said in the interview that took place last Thursday.

In response to the reported threats, Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly
Kucherena, said
that Snowden will ask Russian law enforcers to protect him. He
stressed that death threats carry criminal liability in Russia.

Snowden’s refugee status means he is fully entitled to ask the
police for help, the lawyer said.

Speaking to Russian TV channel Vesti 24, Kucherena said that
Snowden is constantly accompanied by private guards, but added
that such security “might not be enough” to ensure his
safety.

The lawyer said he will demand that US authorities look into the
threatening statements published in US media, adding that their
authors should be identified.

Speaking on Sunday, Snowden’s American legal adviser said that
the whistleblower would be willing to enter talks with US
Attorney General Eric Holder to negotiate his return to the
United States, but not without a guarantee of amnesty.

"It's a little disheartening that [Holder] seemed to take
clemency and amnesty off the table, which are two of the
negotiating points," Jesselyn Radack told NBC.